Moily reveals thoughts: Future of foreign firms and smaller BCI
Law minister Veerappa Moily admitted that the entry of foreign firms could be good for business if local lawyers were allowed to build capacity before an “onslaught from the rest of the world” and that he had seen 80 national law school graduates prosper at London firms, in a revealing interview with the Mint paper today, adding that the door was still open to transfer the Chennai writ petition against foreign firms to the Supreme Court.
Arguing that legal education should be taken away from the BCI, he denied that the Bar Council of India (BCI) should feel threatened by the Legal Practitioner’s Bill.
On the entry of foreign firms Moily (pictured) told Mint: “The matter is before the Madras high court. I think it is also before the MP (Madhya Pradesh) high court. Bombay high court has already given some judgement...maybe there are some (more) high courts also… I think maybe we need to…wait for the judgement. I think some of them are contemplating some cases to be filed before the Supreme Court. So, all these cases can be transferred to the Supreme Court so that a view can be taken ultimately.”
Moily acknowledged that a consultation was taking place between himself and the BCI and its chairman and solicitor general Gopal Subramanium and that the law ministry would “definitely” file a counter affidavit after the consultation.
